Categories
New Album Review

Album Review: Andy Shauf – The Neon Skyline

BEST TRACKS: Neon Skyline, Living Room, Try Again, Changer

FCC violations: Where Are You Judy, Thirteen Hours, Living Room, Fire Truck

Listen if you like: Jens Lekman, Bedouine, Faye Webster

“Essentially it’s an album about nothing”.

On January 24th, Andy Shauf released his highly anticipated follow up to his 2016 album, The Party. Just as The Party was, The Neon Skyline is another concept album in which all of the songs take place in the span of one night. The basic gist of the story is one many of us are probably familiar with: The narrator heads off to a bar with his friend, where he soon learns that his ex is in town. After that shocking news, he’s forced to revisit the and wade through the memories of their failed relationship. If you’re wondering if our narrator eventually sees his ex…I guess you’ll just have to listen to the whole story!

The album opens with the title track, (my favorite off the record) Neon Skyline. The gentle guitar and Shauf’s melodic voice – perfect for storytelling, do a wonderful job of setting the mood for the rest of the album. Sprinkled throughout the rest of the songs you’ll hear dashes of country, indie, and jazz intermingling with his usual folk / soft-rock sound.

Make sure you have ample time to listen to this album the whole way through. You’ll be so caught up in the fictional story that Shauf has brilliantly created that you won’t want to stop it for anything. If you need a quiet, peaceful album to listen to and enjoy during some much needed R&R, look no further. Put in your ear buds, close your eyes, listen and enjoy.

I hope you’ll add this wonderfully refreshing and endearing album to your “must listen to” lists soon – you won’t regret it!

-miss monet <3

Categories
New Album Review

ALBUM REVIEW: Criteria – Years

BEST TRACKS: Agitate Resuscitate, We Are The Ones Who Make It So, We Pretend, Tight Rope

FCC violations: Agitate Resuscitate, The Saint, We Are. We Are. We Aren’t., This Reign is Ours, Hands Out

This classic alt-rock album, released on January 17th, has been a long time in the works (it’s Criteria’s first new album in 15 years)! To give you an idea of the kind of music Criteria makes, they toured with the likes of Jimmy Eat World and Minus the Bear following the release of their sophomore album En Garde in 2005. Their sound has stayed pretty consistent throughout the years (not that it needs to change). Years is sweetly reminiscient of simpler times AKA the early 2000s punk rock revival headed by Green Day’s American Idiot and the Offspring’s Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace.

The album opens with my favorite track of the record, lead single Agitate Resuscitate. This song’s monster riffs, toe-tapping hooks, and melody-forward vocals set very high expectations for the rest of the album. Strong bass lines will keep you grounded amidst the explosive drums and intense riffage. The album maintains it’s post-hardcore punk momentum all the way through to the end where it closes on a high note with Peace, ‘through our pain we still celebrate life today,’ and with a final call for world peace, the album fades into silence.

Criteria reminds me of Fall Out Boy, in that you’ll want to not just sing, but shout along to these passionate and anthemic lyrics. Songs on this album encompas the many ways in which we go through life, be it struggling and fighting for the revolution, or struggling with ourselves alone. Listen to this album if you want to feed your rebellious and angry, yet carefree highschool soul. Even though growth and change in music is great and encouraged, there’s something reassuring about knowing that some things in music never change. For every genre, there will always be a core, classic sound that we can revert to for comfort when we are tired of the new. For the genre of post-punk, Criteria encompasses this core perfectly.

In closing, welcome back, Criteria. It’s great to have you back.

-Safia Rizwan

Categories
New Album Review

ALBUM REVIEW: The National – I Am Easy to Find

BEST TRACKS: Quiet Light, Hey Rosey, Hairpin Turns, Rylan

FCC clean

I Am Easy to Find scored a 7.6 on Pitchfork and was ranked as the #1 album of 2019 on Sophie’s Floorboard, edging out PUP’s Morbid Stuff for first place, so I just had to check it out. At 64 hours, this album is The National’s longest yet. I admire that this album takes its time. At no point do I feel like the album was hurried or short-changed.

This album is all about subtlety, featuring soft piano, whispering strings, and humble percussion. The emphasis is placed on the vocals and lyrics. Front man Matt Berninger’s baritone voice intertwined with multiple female vocalists, including Gail Ann Dorsey, David Bowie’s backup singer, brings this album in a certain divine direction. Despite all the outside voices, this album sounds undeniably like a National’s album. All monologuing takes place elegantly and compliments the music, rather than stealing away the spotlight.

I Am Easy to Find sounds like a slow drive through the snowy hills of the countryside. This album expertly captures the quiet weightlessness of being alone and the vulnerability of the human condition. I Am Easy to Find would fit perfectly as the soundtrack to a movie about struggling lovers and fates that never line up. In fact, The National released an artful, black and white short film that shares the name of the album, directed by Mike Mill (20th Century Women), and starring Alicia Vikander (Ex-Machina).

In my heart of hearts, Morbid Stuff is still the #1 album of the year and that will never change. However, I Am Easy to Find is seriously amazing too, but in a different way, for a different audience, and I can certainly see why it receives all of the praise that it does. I recommend this album if you are in the process of finding self-love.

-Safia

Categories
New Album Review

ALBUM REVIEW: Cigarettes After Sex – Cry

ALBUM REVIEW: Cigarettes After Sex – Cry

BEST TRACKS: Heavenly, You’re The Only Good Thing In My Life, Touch

FCC Violations: Kiss It Off Me, You’re The Only Good Thing In My Life

Recommended if you like: Beach House, Slowdive, The xx

Cigarettes After Sex is back after 2 years of absence with a new, self-produced release, Cry. Their self-titled first album is a hard act to follow, containing what is, in my opinion, one of the purest, fuzzy-feeling modern love songs ever written, Sweet. I was excited to see what this album had in store for us. Much like Cigarettes After Sex’s first album, Cry is slower than molasses, and sweeter too.

Listening to this album, it’s obvious that front man Greg Gonzales holds firmly the belief that less is more and executes this ethos flawlessly. Cry is mind-blowingly gentle and slow, yet still somehow manages to keep the listener’s ear perked with ultra-downbeat hints of dreampop. Gonzales’ voice sounds like a moon fairy whispering into your ear. From the first note, Gonzales creates an unshakable atmosphere, like time standing still, through echoing guitar strums, and that lovely low hum of a bassline.

Though the music is unique and fantastic, there is not much substance in the way of lyrics on this album. Though it’s refreshing to see such blatant themes of sexual desire in a genre that is usually so subtle and prude, there is not enough depth or poetry in the writing. Lyrics come off as generic and clichéd. Listening to these songs kind of made me feel like I was reading the diary of a hormonal teenage boy who thinks he’s in love.

I’ll say that this album is still worth a listen purely for the atmosphere created by the music. That is, if you don’t let the corny lyrics jolt you out of the mood. This is an album for horny romantics and painfully hopeless fantasizers. If you are, or ever were, an unashamedly diehard fan of Twilight or 50 Shades of Grey, then give this album a spin.

-Safia Rizwan

Categories
New Album Review

ALBUM REVIEW: Macseal – Super Enthusiast

ALBUM REVIEW: Macseal – Super Enthusiast

BEST TRACKS: Picture Perfect, Always Hazy, Upside Down Again

FCC Clean

Recommended If You Like: Oso Oso, Slaughter Beach Dog, American Football, Remo Drive

Macseal has been teasing us ever since 2015, releasing EP after EP, giving us small morsels of delicious music but keeping us ravenously hungry for a proper full length album. Finally, earlier this month, our prayers were answered and Macseal released an exciting, vibrant album that I am gobbling up. From Long Island, NY, Macseal is a 4-piece American indie rock band with pop influences that have a unique talent for forging sunny melodies supported by relatable lyrical narratives. They have an impressive track record for putting on exhilarating live shows and are currently touring the eastern and southern United States and they are coming to Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle on February 4th!

This pop-infused punk album is bliss from start to finish, featuring elements of insane math rock rhythms, light, glittering guitar work, and crystal clear vocals. Super Enthusiast is a romantic, breezy listen, spotted with small emotional outcries that are easily accessible to anyone. With bittersweet tracks like Mystery Inc., which is about outgrowing people, and Graduating Steps, which is about revisiting your old school after many years, this album could easily soundtrack a rebellious teenage coming of age movie.

When I listen to this album, I can’t help from picturing the sun glistening on the surface of a lake. But don’t be fooled, because even though the music is upbeat, if you get into the lyrics, you’ll find that they’re pretty glum, confronting the rapid passage of time and the challenges of getting older in such a cold, unforgiving universe. I find that I can listen to this kind of happy-sad music through thick and thin and it always finds a way to resonate with me. If you like drawing on the sidewalk with chalk or taking bubble baths, you’re probably going to love this album.

-Safia Rizwan

Categories
New Album Review

ALBUM REVIEW: Best Sleep – Hummingbird

BEST TRACKS: Three More Months, Furnace, keys, Indiana Dropout

FCC Violations: Weird, Three More Months

Recommended if you like: Rozwell Kid, PUP, Jeff Rosenstock, together PANGEA, Fuzz

2019 has been an eventful year for DIY punk rock, producing skull-shattering albums like PUP’s Morbid Stuff and BRUTUS’s Nest. Hummingbird is an exciting, captivating DIY punk rock album that belongs right up there at the same level as Best Sleep’s more well-known contemporaries. Song after song, this album just kept drawing me in with the rawness of the lyrics and power of the instrumentation. Best Sleep is a relatively new 4-piece band from Fort Wayne, Indiana. Though they haven’t been on the scene for long, they released an amazing EP last spring that pulled on my heartstrings so hard that they snapped. To my delight, they carried that momentum and released a gut-wrenchingly melancholic full-length album, Hummingbird, right in time for seeping in the winter blues.

Hummingbird has strikingly beautiful, dark melodies and enthralling intensity. Every time the energy shifts, introducing the booming percussion and fuzzy bass, it will release your soul from its earthly bond. My favorite song on the album is track 7, Three More Months. The song opens with a hauntingly dark riff and transitions into anguished vocals. If you’ve been reading my reviews for a while, you know that I’m a huge sucker for intense fuzz and feedback, which this song (and whole album) has a ton of.

Just so you’re warned, there is no subtlety or sugarcoating here. Obergfell and Richardson are not afraid of writing blunt lyrics straight from the heart. This album tackles a lot of heavy themes, especially about the struggles that come along with getting older and getting tossed out into the cold, cruel world. Track 2, Furnace is about not having enough money to keep the heat on through the winter. Track 3, Son of the Year, confronts the pressing guilt that comes with feeling like you don’t talk to your family enough.

If Winter is a hard time for you, give this album a spin and you might feel a little less alone.

-Safia

Categories
Local Music New Album Review

Album Review: Thirsty Curses – Thirsty Curses

BEST TRACKS: VHS Release, Red Marks, I Want to Wreck Your Car

FCC Violations: VHS Release, Smash-Hit, Slice of Paradise, You Don’t Have to Tell Me That You Love Me,

Recommended if you like: PUP, The Fratellis, The Front Bottoms

Thirsty Curses pummels the scene once again with a new, label debut album. Thirsty Curses is a local four-piece rock and roll band straight out of our own beloved city of Raleigh, NC. Their latest album, which is self-titled, was released last Friday! I had the privilege of listening to this album before it was released on streaming platforms and I was blow away by the raw energy and deep cutting lyrics encompassed in this release. I am so excited for you guys to finally be able to listen to it. There was also a record release show at School Kids Records last Friday and while I wasn’t able to make it (I had a Biochemistry test that I had to cram for ☹), I heard that it kicked ass and that the album was received phenomenally well. I wouldn’t have expected anything different from Thirsty Curses. They’ve been putting out good stuff since 2017.

There is some phenomenal songwriting on this album. In every song, the lyrics flow and swing together extremely harmoniously, creating a sense of continuity and balance that lets you just sink deep into the music. My favorite song on this album is track 1, VHS Release. Packed into this short, 2 minute 39 second song are several punky riffs, lighthearted drums, and some creative similes that outline heavy themes of being anxious and dissatisfied with your mediocre life, feeling lost about what to do next, and craving a clean start.

If you like drinking beer or if you’ve ever dressed up like a pirate for Halloween, you’ll probably like this album.

I feel hopeful whenever a local band comes out with an album this fresh and amazing. It shows that we don’t have to look far beyond our own backyards to find incredible talent. Fight the corporate machine, keep supporting local music.

-Safia

Categories
New Album Review

ALBUM REVIEW: Dead Soft – Big Blue

BEST TRACKS: I Believe you, Problems, Whatever I Want, Trimmer

FCC violations: Porch

Recommended if you like bands like Microwave, Culture Abuse, or Turnover.

This album is nothing short of cathartic. Big Blue is, without doubt, the best album that has come across my desk this year. Dead Soft is a three-piece grunge-punk band from Vancouver. They have been silently lurking in the shadows of Canadian underground music since 2011 but in recent years, a mist of excitement started to amass around Dead Soft. People started noticing Dead Soft for the energy and depth they brought to the table.

After three years of culminating and refining, Dead Soft has come out and seized the entire scene by its throat with their first full length debut.

Being the die-hard for fuzz that I am, I instantly fell in love with this album as soon as I heard the whiny feedback kick in at the beginning of track 1, I Believe You.  The intoxicating, fuzz-drenched rise-and-fall intensity carries throughout the entire album. Vocals range from full-throated yelling to soft and flowing. Big Blue isn’t just all about loud noise. The choruses hit hard with bold, melodic hooks. No two songs on this album sound the same, which is the sign of hard work poured into an album. Surprise breakdowns and crashing of drums will keep you on your toes.

Dead Soft writes melancholic yet optimistic lyrics. From the deeply raw and emotional outpour that exudes from words so passionately sung, you can easily tell that these songs were written from the heart. The feral way vocalist Nathaniel Epp screams “into a black hole” on track 3, Step Out, will have the hairs on the back of your neck standing on end. Overall, this album is powerful, and I can’t get enough of it. I think I have a crush.

I will definitely be keeping an eye on this band. I hope to see them continue to make strides and I’m excitedly awaiting their next release.

-Safia

Categories
New Album Review

ALBUM REVIEW: Devarrow – Devarrow

BEST TRACKS: Heart Attack, Home, Unwired

FCC violations: A Dream The Veil

3 years after the successful release of album The Great Escape, Devarrow steps back onto the scene with a highly anticipated self-titled album. Raised with wonderful parents who promoted free expression, openness, and simplicity, Devarrow’s mastermind Graham Ereaux feels pressured and at odds by the bustling suburb life. This album feels like a much-needed escape to the Nova Scotia seaside, away from the information overload and anxiety-inducing, technology-embedded society of today. Psychedelic folk rock is such a niche and specific genre, so I always get excited when I stumble upon a new release in this category. I can safely say that this album is the best thing to happen to psychedelic folk rock since Dougie Poole’s Wideass Highway was released in 2017.

Devarrow features western influenced twangy guitar and psychedelic reverberations but still holds a firm core of classic Nova Scotia sweetness. Even if you’ve never seen a spaghetti western in your life, listening to this music will transport you vividly to someplace free and far away. Devarrow is an album that will fully immerse you in a sense of peace and balance.

I think this album is the best acoustic album to come out all year. Though this is a stripped-down album, each song has distinct, unique features and exudes so much bright energy. It’s hard to get the same pulsing energy playing acoustic as you can when playing plugged in, but Devarrow does, and makes it sound effortless. Graham Ereaux is talented vocalist who can switch his voice in an instant between a harsh scratch to a gentle croon, keeping you on your toes. Devarrow is proof that you don’t need any fancy equipment or instruments to make diverse, layered songs. At most, all you need is the help of a harmonica, an organ and an acoustic guitar.

Recommended if you like Dr. Dog, Hozier, Fleet Foxes, or Dougie Poole.

-Safia Rizwan

Categories
New Album Review

ALBUM REVIEW: Leslie Bear – Means To Me

BEST TRACKS: Sweetheart, Empty Bottle, Snow Globe

FCC clean

Leslie Bear’s second album as Long Beard, Means To Me, is a silky dream pop album about her suburban New Jersey hometown and how the people and places in it have changed or disappeared over the years since her 2015 debut Sleepwalker. In this album, Bear confronts her feelings of nostalgia and instability of the universe migrating around her while she seems to be staying still. To me, the most nostalgic and lonesome song on this album is track number four Sweetheart in which Bear sings about her first kiss long ago on a rainy day outside of the local CVS pharmacy. Everyone who has ever lived in an American suburb can probably reminisce back to what it was like being inside their local CVS while it was pouring outside.

Means To Me features heavy filters, reverberation, jangly guitars, and yearnful vocals. Overall, I would describe this album as dream pop in its purest form. The beat, melody, and vocals all merge together like gently flowing water.

At first, I wasn’t a huge fan of this album because I usually prefer songs with either a bit more intensity or gut-wrenching sadness, but I listened to this album on repeat while I was studying for a biochemistry test and I have never been so focused. This is my perfect type of studying music because I can’t understand the words over the heavy vocal filters, so I don’t get distracted by them. Picking the best tracks for this album was hard because most of the songs on this album all sounded the same to me. I picked the best tracks based on the catchiness of the guitar riffs. This album is great if you’re looking for some uninterrupted background music though!

Recommended that you listen if you like Jay Som, Hatchie, or Japanese Breakfast!

-Safia Rizwan